Jeff Rumage, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
After years of planning, the "gateway promenade" designed to welcome visitors to the Mequon-Thiensville Town Center District is expected to begin construction May 4.
Mequon and Thiensville officials have been talking about a gateway structure since 2002, when the two communities began planning a joint downtown area called the Mequon-Thiensville Town Center District. The district includes the Mequon Town Center, Spur 16, Foxtown and downtown Thiensville.
The gateway structure at the northeast corner of Cedarburg and Mequon roads is meant to serve as an entrance point to the Town Center District. Construction is expected to be completed by October.
The semicircular gateway structure, measuring 17 feet tall at its highest point, would feature wooden slats around the perimeter, as well as logos for Mequon and Thiensville.
Inside the semicircular structure will be a concrete path, along with concrete seating areas where visitors can look out onto the Milwaukee River. A crushed granite path will lead visitors from the gateway feature to the Rotary Riverwalk.
Revised designs
The gateway feature has been scaled down since it was initially presented to Mequon and Thiensville officials in 2018. The original design featured a full circular boardwalk extending closer to the river. It also featured a stairway to a second-story observation deck.
The lowest construction bid for the original design came in at about $865,000 in January 2019. Three months later, Mequon city officials rebid the project without the second-story observation deck. The design revision did not change the construction costs, however, so the common council rejected the second batch of bids.
To reduce the construction costs, the Mequon Common Council agreed in August to lease the land to the Thiensville-Mequon Rotary Foundation for $1. The land will be transferred back to the city after the project is finished.
With control of the land, the Rotary Foundation was able to take the lead of the project and negotiate with subcontractors in a way the city could not, according to Connie Pukaite, a former Mequon mayor who serves as secretary to the Thiensville-Mequon Rotary Foundation Board.
In speaking with contractors, the Rotary Foundation learned it was prohibitively expensive to create the outer half of the circular walkway, which would have been elevated on posts.
The foundation decided to eliminate that section of the walkway, leaving just a semicircular walkway that would be roughly two feet below the grade of the intersection. The foundation also added a crushed granite path that connects to the paved Rotary Riverwalk.
The revised design plans were approved by Mequon officials in December.
The new price tag for the gateway structure is $710,000. Over the past several years, the Rotary Foundation has raised about $360,000 for the structure. The city of Mequon will contribute $150,000, and the village of Thiensville will contribute $50,000. Mequon also contributed $60,000 toward the original design of the project.
Because some of the Rotary Foundation's donation pledges will be paid over the next three years, the Mequon Common Council has agreed to provide gap funding until those donations are received. The loan principle must be repaid to the city by 2023.
Sandy Custer, an officer on the Thiensville-Mequon Rotary Foundation Board, said the foundation has not been actively fundraising for a year, and he believes the foundation will have no trouble coming up with the additional $150,000.
"We feel the gateway will be a great new landmark for Mequon, Thiensville and their collaborative effort to create the Town Center District," Pukaite said.